


The First and the Several Thousandth

by WolfenM



Series: The Rebel and the Bodyguard [2]
Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, First Time, Fluff and Angst, Male Friendship, Romance, Sister-Sister Relationship, Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-13
Updated: 2012-12-13
Packaged: 2017-11-21 00:22:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/591348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfenM/pseuds/WolfenM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been three months since they left Forks, and Garrett is still won't do much more than kiss Kate. He's also having hunger issues; what will happen, then, when a human knocks at their door? A tag exploring how Garrett and Kate's relationship might have gone after <i>Breaking Dawn, Part 2</i>, including their first time together. Also includes some scenes of camaraderie between Garrett and Eleazar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First and the Several Thousandth

**Author's Note:**

> **Spoilers:** If you intend to see the film _Breaking Dawn, Part 2_ and /or read the book _Breaking Dawn_ (much less any of the works before them), you should do so *before* reading this. You should also have read "Like a Newborn", to which this fic is a sequel.  
>  **Length:** Just under 7700 words.  
>  **Notes:** I didn't really have much of a plan for this one, just sort of let the story happen organically and lead me.  
>  Each section has a heading that lets you know whose point of view it's told from.  
> ~ * * * ~ = Kate  
> ##### = Garrett  
>  **Disclaimer:** Twilight, Garrett, Kate, Tanya, Irina, Bella, Carmen, Eleazar, the Cullens, and the Denalis © Stephenie Meyer/Summit Entertainment.

~ * * * ~  
"Argh! How do I keep forgetting to tie my hair back when I do this?" Kate grumbled, holding up her clay-covered hands in disgust and trying to blow the hair out of her eyes.

"Here, let me help you with that," Garrett replied, disappearing with vampiric speed and reappearing with a hair tie in his hand.

She felt his long fingers brush gently against her neck as he gathered and bound her mane, and she just barely held back a moan and a shiver in reply. Why did a vampire's every move have to be so ... _sensuous_? Especially when he showed no sign of _acting_ on it?

"So how goes it?" he asked, leaning over her shoulder to study the piece, his words brushing over her shoulder much like his fingers had.

She growled in frustration over his innocent-but-too-enticing caresses. Did he have to stir her up when she was a total mess?

"That bad?" he laughed, oblivious to the true reason for the sound. "It looks fan _tas_ tic ta me!"

She turned her head so that her lips were close to his. "Does it?" she asked, more concerned with his closeness than his reply. She hoped he'd take the hint, mess be damned.

It seemed he did, too, but not the way she'd hoped. He turned his head more towards her to reply, then froze, lips millimeters from hers. The tingling she felt had nothing to do with her power. For a moment, it seemed he was about to kiss her -- and not the sweet but somewhat chaste kisses he usually gave, but the soul-devouring sort that had been their first, and which he'd revisited only a handful of times since before pulling away each time. So while she was disappointed when he stepped back now, looking adorably uncomfortable and awkward without them even having touched lips, she wasn't exactly surprised.

"Uh ... I-I think I heard Eleazar calling me," he claimed. The lie was oh-so-obvious -- and not just because she didn't hear anything herself. "I better see what he wants."

She tried not to let it bother her that he couldn't seem to get out of the studio (or, apparently, the house -- she heard the kitchen door open and close) fast enough. She knew he loved her, that he wasn't rejecting her. The problem was that he was too much of a gentleman for either of their good. He was resisting being with her because he didn't want to intrude on her grief for Irina.

As frustrating as it was, though, it was also sweet. And truth be told, she couldn't bring herself to tell him otherwise. Since Irina's loss was essentially _why_ Garrett was holding back (at least on the surface), Kate felt like the notion of telling him he didn't have to was like saying she was okay with Irina being dead.

She resisted the urge to throw her unfinished work at the doorway after him, to let off some steam.

It was a good thing she did, as Tanya, who was walking into the studio just then, probably wouldn't have appreciated getting her new outfit full of clay. Tanya had made the outfit herself, out of remnant fabric, so it wasn't like she could just buy a new one ....

"Is he _still_ playing the nobility card?" Tanya sighed. "I know the card to play to counteract that: it's called 'Irina wouldn't want you to waste a single day of happiness, especially not with her as the reason.' Want me to play it for you?"

Kate shook her head ruefully. "No, because he's got another card to play after _that_ , and I think it'll hurt him to do it." If it came to that, she supposed she'd rather have their current stalemate.

"Oh? Do tell!" Tanya demanded as she plopped onto a couch.

Kate paused, considering. Garrett hadn't said it was a secret, but it didn't feel like it was her confession to speak of. At the same time, though, she had been very close to Tanya for many centuries; they were far beyond the need to keep secrets from one another. Thankfully, that bond worked to her favour.

"Oh, wait, you mean the 'vampire virgin embarrassed by his own inexperience' card?" Tanya asked.

Kate stared at her sister. "How did you ...?"

"Well, that day you stormed out of the Cullen house and had that chat with him in the woods? I maaay have followed to make sure you were okay," Tanya confessed. "But in all honesty, even if I hadn't heard him talk about it, the way he jumps whenever you two start to get close now, despite how flirty he once was? There were only two explanations: either he's a novice who's suddenly finding himself staring down over the cliff of 'I'm About to Get Laid', or you've been _constantly_ zapping him."

Kate bit back a laugh, then sighed. "I already _told_ him that his inexperience was ... well, you know. Kinda _hot_. And that I've had plenty of lovers that weren't ... _experienced_. So what's it going to take for him to get over this hang-up?"

Tanya tapped her lip, as she tended to do when thinking. "Maybe we should enlist Eleazar," she suggested.

"He is already way ahead of you," Carmen revealed as she came to stand in the doorway.

The sound of the kitchen door opening and closing came again, much more gently this time -- Eleazar, it seemed.

#######  
"If I heard correctly, you were going to see what I wanted, so how come I'm the one coming after you?" came a light teasing.

Garrett sheepishly turned away from the distant gathering of moose he'd been watching, not quite meeting Eleazar's eye as the man sat beside him. The remains of a lynx cooled beside him, drained of blood. "Oh, you heard that, huh?"

"One of the perils of living with other vampires," Eleazar reminded him. Then, "Do you regret it?"

"Comin' ta live with y'all? Nah. I mean, I'd be lyin' if I said it didn't take some adjustin', but that don't mean I don't _like_ it, ya know?"

Eleazar nodded. "And yet ... while you live with us, you do not ... _live_ with us, yes?"

Garrett had an inkling of what Eleazar meant, suspecting it was a question he didn't want to answer, but he asked anyway, "Whaddya mean?"

"Everyone's experience mating is different, and there _are_ some pairs that do not choose physical intimacy at all, but ... I do not have the sense that you want to be counted amongst the celibate. Even so, you balk at touching Kate, and at being touched. You do not allow yourself to enjoy that which you both clearly want. And so you are only living a shadow of the life you wish to have. Why do you restrain yourself?"

"I don't wanna be pushy," he hedged. "It's only been what, three months since Irina's death? That's the blink of an eye when you think of how many centuries those two were sisters! So I figure I'll wait till she tells me she's ready."

Eleazar laughed. Garret scowled, disgruntled.

"My friend, if she said it any louder, she'd be howling and setting off all the wolves here in Alaska! No, while I believe you _are_ trying to be considerate, I suspect that such isn't the _only_ reason -- just the one you push to the fore to shield yourself from the _deeper_ reasons, the ones you probably are not even conscious of."

"Deeper reasons?" Garrett didn't like the sound of that.

Eleazar nodded. "Everyone is a product of their times. Kate is from a time and place when women held power -- over their own lives and potentially over others. Her own tribe was matriarchal instead of patriarchal, and sex was not restricted to marriage. You and I, on the other hand, come from the tail-end of a long era when a woman's value was largely limited to three things: the economic status of her family, her purity, and her potential to bear healthy children."

Quick and hard as a bolt of lightning, a memory struck Garrett, one of Kate mistaking Garrett's words to Esme about Kate's many lovers as being a criticism. If men of his era saw women as only valuable if they were virgins and could give a man heirs .... "Are you saying that the reason I keep pulling away from Kate is because, deep down, I really _do_ think she's a whore, and worthless because of it??" he interrupted, bristling.

"No, no, no," Eleazar replied, shaking his head and waving a hand for emphasis. "I was about to say that a true gentleman always respected and protected a woman's purity; to do otherwise could destroy her socially and economically, and possibly do the same to her family. Since I am certain you were a gentleman in your human life--"

Garrett snorted, interrupting. "Boyo, I mighta gotten by well enough, but I wasn't a rich fella, not by any means!"

"Perhaps you weren't a gentleman in the sense of social status, but in that of moral code? I'm fairly certain you were. And as such, you would be ingrained with a sense of obligation to respect and preserve a woman's chastity -- which in turn would give you pause, consciously or not, every time you came close to violating that chastity. You wouldn't feel comfortable being with her physically unless she was your wife -- the point when it would be socially acceptable for you to sleep together, and so you wouldn't have to worry about ruining her reputation."

"But that's ridiculous!" Garrett protested. "I _know_ she's not a virgin, and I don't care! People born in _this_ era don't care much neither!"

Eleazar nodded. "I know that you do not hold it against her, and that there is little to fear of a scandal; I am just saying that it is the custom of the men of our time to not touch, or even keep un-chaperoned company with, a woman out of wedlock, out of a sense of respect for the woman. It is much like we were programmed that way, regardless of what we actually _think_ of such outmoded thoughts. In fact, that is rather my point -- we do not _think_ about it much at _all_ , just act. Or, in this case, _don't_ act, without considering why."

Garrett slumped his shoulders, feeling like a heel. "And here I thought you were just gonna say I was still feeling ridiculously inadequate, given my lack of experience, even though she said she was okay with that."

"Well, I did say _reasons_ , plural," Eleazar replied with a gleam in his eye. "I think there is a bit of that issue in the equation as well."

Garret closed his eyes and groaned, falling back against the ground. "So what do I do? Find myself a vampire prostitute to practice with, then tell Kate it's time to start plannin' a weddin' so we can finally get it on? I won't do that to her," he added, getting to his feet and pacing. "I don't even know if she _wants_ to get hitched! I'm not gonna put that kind of demand on her just so she can be with me -- especially since regardless of how my era may have shaped me without my realisin' it, I consider myself to be a pretty modern guy! I was just thinkin' a weddin' might be a nice way to celebrate our findin' one another, not somethin' that we _had_ to do in order to be together!"

"And you still do not have to do it for that reason, if you do it at all. You also do not have to wait, if that is not what either of you wish," Eleazar replied. "Before, you were stumbling around blindly, afraid of walking into a barrier you suspected was there, but didn't know the nature or location of. Now your eyes are open -- you know where the wall is, what it's made of, and how wide and tall. You can decide now how to get past it without harming yourself or hurting Kate. If you both want a wedding, let it be for the reasons you can agree on. If Kate wants you but doesn't want to marry, you _can_ decide to be with her anyway. If you think your reasons for not being intimate yet are foolish, that they are shackles that are holding you back, break them and cast them aside. Or, if you can't break the ones created by your inexperience, learn what you feel you need to know and then make a key from your knowledge."

Garrett cringed. "So we're back to the prostitute for that one?"

Eleazar laughed, more richly than Garrett had ever heard the man do. "I realise that you enjoy _first-hand_ experience, Mr Quartermaine, but there _are_ other ways to learn." And with that, Eleazar rose and started to head back towards the house.

"Quartermaine?" Garrett asked as he followed after the man, not expecting an answer -- and not getting one.

~ * * * ~  
Kate was thoroughly perplexed when the front doorbell rang. As she hurriedly cleaned her hands at the utility sink in the studio, she listened.

"Hi, I'm really sorry to bother you," a feminine voice began after someone opened the door, "but my car slid on the ice into a ditch not far from your driveway, and I can't seem to get any cell reception out here, with the cheap-o plan that I have. Can I use your phone to call a tow-truck?"

"Oh, of course," Carmen assured the woman pleasantly. "Come in, please! You seem to have cut your forehead in the accident -- let me get a first-aid kit."

Most of them had all tamed their thirst well enough to handle having a human amongst them, for any length of time, really, without suffering much or having to work especially hard to restrain themselves -- even when they were hungry, and even when faced with blood. Unfortunately, though, Garrett wasn't at that point, yet -- and likely wouldn't be for a few decades.

Thankfully, she'd never heard the kitchen door open again, so he was still outside; she just had to meet him and keep him out of the house. She passed the stranger using their phone in the living room, when she heard Eleazar come in through the back door....

With Garrett right behind him.

As Eleazar stepped aside to let Garrett in, Kate hurried in front of him. Before she could whisper a warning, he greeted her with a grin, swept her up in his arms, spun her in a circle, and kissed her the way she'd been wishing he would kiss her just a short while ago.

It was a good thing she didn't need to breathe.

It took every ounce of resolve for her to end the kiss -- especially as she still had to hold fast to him, in case he caught a whiff of the human just a few rooms away, rather than push away entirely, and remove the possibility of further meetings of lips.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked, hurt in his lovely amber eyes.

"No, it's just that we have a guest," she told him hurriedly, wanting to _keep_ his eyes that shade.

As she said the words, though, he stiffened, eyes focusing on the doorway; clearly, he already knew the guest was human, not vampire. He started forward, but she pushed against him, Eleazar grabbing hold of his shoulder and pulling from behind.

"Hold your breath," she ordered.

He didn't hear her or didn't care, caught up in bloodlust, trembling now as he struggled to move forward. Still, at least some part of him had to be aware of her, or he would have been trying even harder -- and possibly hurt them in the process. She could floor him with her power, but his scream would likely alert the human woman and draw her into the room. Still ... Kate took a risk, shocking him just slightly, to disorient him, then letting go of his left arm and pinching his nose shut.

His struggling eased, and he finally seemed able to focus on her.

"Let's get outside," she suggested.

He nodded, letting himself be guided to and through the door, Eleazar following them.

They weren't far out the door when Garrett suddenly burst out of her grip. For a panicked moment, she thought maybe he was going back in for the human, but then she realised he was racing forward, towards a herd of moose in the distance. She let out a sigh of relief and followed, grinning, proud that Garrett had resisted the temptation.

Garrett, though, wasn't so pleased with himself, it seemed. He wouldn't meet her eyes even after he'd stopped feeding. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Hey, no harm, no foul. We all went through a pretty lengthy period of adjustment, but we couldn't do it alone, and you aren't going to either. We're all here for you. This was smart, coming out here, by the way" she added, waving towards the fallen moose. "I'm impressed!" She smiled.

Her smile fell when he didn't smile back, just stared at the remains before him. She exchanged a concerned look with Eleazar.

He finally picked up some snow and began to clean his face and hands. "I, ah ... I-I need to clear my head. Think I'll go for a walk," he said as he worked, then wiped his hands dry on his jeans and began heading out further into the wide, open expanse. "Don't worry, I'll stay in sight, so's y'all can keep an eye on me," he added over his shoulder.

She stood, uncertain whether to follow or give him space.

Eleazar laid a hand on her arm, staying her. "Worry not. I will keep him company. I have my phone on me, as well, so you can call me when the woman leaves -- or warn if more humans arrive."

She nodded and reluctantly headed back to the house, casting glances behind her several times as she made her way. She even paused once to howl, both to call in the local wolves to feast on the carcass, as was Denali custom, and to let off some of her anxiety. She hoped Garrett and Eleazar might start to talk before she reached the house, so she might have a gage of what Garrett was thinking, but all she heard before she went indoors was Eleazar mention the phone ....

#######  
"I don't suppose you'd let me just _have_ the phone?" Garrett asked once the distinct sound of the kitchen door opening and closing reached him from a half-mile away.

"Sorry, but I am rather fond of it," Eleazar claimed, looking bemused for a moment before growing serious. "I hope you don't think what happened was a failure on your part," he added. "You actually showed remarkable restraint."

Garrett stopped short, appalled. Not that he hadn't been thinking of how he'd nearly attacked the human, but that his doing so could be seen as a failure hadn't even really occurred to him!

His surprise must have been obvious, because Eleazar then said, "Oh ho! That is not actually what has you so upset, is it? Was it that Kate pulled away from your kiss, then?"

Garrett winced. He hadn't wanted to let on to Kate that he was worried about something, but it seemed that in trying to hide that fact, he must have come off as angry instead. An actor, he was not. "No, that's not it either -- I mean, yeah, it stung for a moment, but once I found out why she did it, I understood. The _problem_ is that I noticed somethin': every time things between Kate and I start to heat up, I get thirsty! I mean, I'd noticed it a few other times, but I thought it was just a coincidence ...."

"So what changed your mind and made you suspect that it is _not_ so?" Eleazar asked.

"Well, I'd fed on that lynx just before we came into the kitchen, and yet after I started kissin' Kate, I wanted to feed _again_ on that human, and ended up feeding on that moose! I should have been good for at least a day or two! And as it was, I'd fed on the lynx right after things were getting' spicy with Kate in the studio! What am I gonna do, Eleazar?"

The Spaniard looked confused now. "Do?"

"I can't get ... _intimate_ with Kate if it means I can’t control my thirst! The vegetarian diet is hard enough as it is -- next time we get a human callin' on us, that human might not live long enough to leave!"

Eleazar smiled enigmatically. "Tell me, my friend -- did you get thirsty _while_ you and Kate were ... ah, getting close, or _after?_ "

Garrett thought about it. "I'm not entirely sure," he decided. "I mean, I didn't _notice_ until afterwards."

"My bet is after as well -- which means it _wasn't_ your increasingly amourous feelings that triggered the thirst."

"It _wasn't_? How do you know that?"

"My friend, when I spoke of how we were from around the same era, did it not occur to you that I might have been in a similar state when I first started courting Carmen?

"To be honest? No," Garrett admitted, chagrined.

"The humans have a term, 'emotional eating'. It refers to eating when one feels unhappy, frustrated, bored, or unfulfilled -- no pun intended. With that in mind, It's not so very surprising that, having denied your ... _hunger_ for Kate, your vampiric thirst would then swell. I went through a similar problem when I denied myself the contact I desired with Carmen -- and I can only imagine how much worse it must be for you, denying yourself human blood at the same time! The wish to avoid the thirst is what ultimately helped me past _my_ societal inhibitions and join with Carmen. Besides, I find overindulging in blood doesn't serve one's digestion very well."

As if on cue, Garrett, feeling sloshy, found himself retching up some of his recent meal. As he did so, he felt Eleazar's hand on his back, patting him in sympathy,

"Told you," Eleazar teased.

When he finished, Garret let out a shaky laugh of relief. To think he'd been afraid he might have to _leave_ Kate over his sudden cravings, and now it seemed she would be the _cure_! "Eleazar, my brother, what would I do without you?"

"Stumble along, doing what's worst for you and making yourself miserable?" Eleazar suggested. "Think nothing of it -- I'm glad to help someone else avoid the stress!"

Meaning Eleazar hadn't had the luxury of someone with experience guiding him through his troubles like this. Of course not -- they were vampires, largely solitary creatures. It certainly felt strange to Garrett, having multiple people who cared for him, people who would be there for him for -- hopefully -- centuries to come! It would take some getting used to, but the effort was already proving worth it.

~ * * * ~  
"Is everything all right?" a concerned Tanya asked lowly as Kate came into the house.

"I hope so," Kate replied. "He seems upset, but I don't know exactly over what. Eleazar insisted on being the one to talk to him, so here I am," she added with a mild frown. Every part of her was screaming that she needed to be with Garrett right now, to make sure he was all right and comfort him if he wasn't, but she had to trust her coven-brother. She had a feeling that whatever conversation they'd had earlier was being revisited, either to drive the original message home or add a revision. She was feeling a little thirsty herself towards the human in the other room -- if not for the woman's presence, she might finally be enjoying Garrett's embrace right now! She growled in frustration.

Just then, she heard Carmen, in the other room, ask the human, "Are you all right? I think maybe we should take you to a hospital!"

Exchanging a glance, Kate and Tanya followed Carmen's voice and found her sitting beside the woman on the couch, the human holding a hand to her head and grimacing.

"I think she has a concussion," Carmen explained.

"We'll take her," Tanya said, gesturing to Kate and herself. Kate was about to protest that she had plans -- she wanted to be there when Garrett returned -- when Tanya added, "You and Eleazar have been on the waiting-list for tickets for the latest show at the Threepenny for ages, right? We got this."

Oh! Kate had forgotten that Carmen and Eleazar had plans! It wouldn't be fair to ask them to go, under the circumstances. And while Tanya could probably handle the situation herself, they had all agreed long ago that they should avoid being alone with a human in close quarters, and it didn't come much closer than in a car.

"You're sure?" Carmen was asking, looking at Kate. Sometimes Kate wondered if the woman could read minds.

"Yeah," Kate assured her, her smile genuine. Carmen was a sweet, kind soul who would take the human to the hospital herself in a heartbeat, sacrificing her own happiness, if she feared Kate and Garrett's relationship might suffer from the separation. The woman deserved some quality time with her Eleazar, and Kate was going to make sure they got it! "You let Garrett know I look forward to resuming our conversation as soon as I get back," she added with a wink.

#####  
Garrett tried to not show his disappointment when, upon his and Eleazar's return to the house, he discovered that Kate wasn't waiting for him. He must not have succeeded, because after a quick study of his face, Carmen smirked. She quickly revealed that Kate had left to help the human, and did so partially out of courtesy for Carmen and Eleazar. "Sorry," Carmen added commiseratingly. "If we hadn't been waiting so long for these tickets, I would have insisted I be the one to go wih Tanya."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Garrett insisted. "Hopefully she won't be gone more than a few hours."

Carmen nodded. "I hope so too -- and then you will have this place all to yourselves for a while. Eleazar and I are going out to that play we've been waiting to see tonight, and Tanya said she planned on doing some hunting when they got back," she elaborated with a sly smile.

"I've left some reading in your room for you to while the time away with," Eleazar added as he came back into the kitchen; Garrett hadn't even realised that the man had left the room already! Despite Eleazar's innocent expression, there was a scary twinkle in his eye.

Garrett had some suspicions of what he would find; it was a good thing vampires couldn't blush. Sure enough, on the desk in his room, he found a small stack of books -- sex manuals. Atop them was a note: _Sometimes even experts need inspiration, new ideas, which is why we have these -- but of course, they cover the basics as well. When you're done, they go in the library._

Odd, he'd been through the house's library and never noticed these. It occurred to Garrett then that these books probably belonged to Eleazar and Carmen, but now Eleazar wanted them to be easily accessible to the new couple in the house (Laurent and Irina probably hadn't shown any need for such things). Once again, he was struck by how kind and welcoming his new family was being, and how simultaneously strange and nice it was to have someone watching his back, something he hadn't had since he was in the army. He hoped to someday repay the kindness -- and hoped he had plenty of time to do so ....

~ * * * ~  
The journey in the car could have been a lot worse, Kate supposed. The scent of blood from the human's cut was only a mild distraction as she drove -- and since even while distracted she was a better driver than most humans, it wasn't any real problem. It was also relatively easy to keep the woman -- Jenny -- engaged in conversation as she lay in the back seat -- especially as Jenny did most of the talking. When the human wasn't apologising for inconveniencing them, she was asking all sorts of personal questions about their lifestyle and home (after telling them about herself, of course).

Thankfully, the Denali coven members all currently had careers that allowed for a certain level of eccentricity, even hermetic tendencies: Kate was an artist, Tanya a fashion designer, Eleazar an architect, Carmen a writer, and Garrett a musician. They didn't just sit around all day doing nothing (which would lead to people filling the gaps left in their lives by the absence of work with all sorts of tawdry speculation), and had finished pieces to prove it. (Besides, how else _would_ they fill the long hours of eternity without tasks of some sort, be they trades or hobbies?) As artisans, it wasn't all that unusual for them to spend a great deal of time at home, wrapped up in their respective works -- and therefore, there wasn't a lot to lie about.

Most of what little there _was_ to lie about -- childhood, mainly, including that Carmen had been adopted by Kate and Tanya's mother when they were pretty young -- had been carefully rehearsed many times. So had the surnames they were currently using (it wouldn't do to use the surname Denali when that was the name of the area they were living in -- a place that had been named for them years ago). And they explained that their family was independently wealthy -- modestly, but enough so they could follow their hearts career-wise. She added that it helped that Eleazar was also pretty good with the stock market. They lived comfortably, but not extravagantly (at least by Hilton or Gates standards).

Kate was beginning to wonder if this human was a reporter, but even if Jenny was, and even if she'd tried to snoop around the house while purportedly going to the bathroom or something, there wouldn't have been anything incriminating to find. And the bloodied wound was real, so either the accident was real too, or the woman was very dedicated to her work, enough to purposefully destroy her car and injure herself. Kate wanted to believe the former, but in the end, it didn't really matter all that much, provided that they painted themselves as fairly uninteresting, so the woman didn't bother to return. Kate even offered up and explanation for their long absence while they were helping the Cullens, in case someone had noticed and sent this human to investigate.

"Have you ever toured Europe?" she asked Jenny, after the human had mentioned having gone on a recent vacation to the States and asked them if they were familiar with this place or that. "We were just there -- took us a couple months to see all we wanted to see."

"Mostly, it was a business trip," Tanya interjected, "so I could check out the latest designs at a few shows in Paris and Milan."

"But we decided to tag along an annoy her," Kate teased. "I met my boyfriend Garrett over there, at a pub in Ireland -- he's a travelling musician from America. He decided to come to Canada with me to take some time off, write some new material based on stuff he saw over there. Really, though, I think he might actually start writing a travel memoir -- Carmen's been encouraging him." Kate found it was better to lead the questions than to let the questions lead her. And in case this human knew enough about them to know they also were missing someone ...."Our sister Irina met somebody in Italy and decided to stay a bit longer. To be honest, I'm not sure she's coming back."

It was a good thing vampires couldn't cry.

Tanya shifted in her seat, brushing Kate's leg, and Kate knew the touch was intentional, a comfort. She granted her sister a quick, sidelong glance and quirk of the corner of her mouth.

#####  
Just minutes after Eleazar and Carmen had left, there was a knock at the door. Garrett knew it couldn't be Kate and Tanya -- not only was it too soon, but since they'd been driving, they most certainly had a house key with the car key. Another stranded human, then? This didn't bode well, not after his reaction this afternoon. Garrett breathed deep, in case he needed to speak, then held his breath so he didn't have to actually smell the human in the meantime.

There was a burly fellow beyond the door -- the man from the tow service, Garrett realsed.

"Hi! My name is Carl -- I'm with Murray's Towing Service," the man revealed, offering his hand. Garrett hoped he didn't seem snooty as he reluctantly shook it, being extra careful not to squeeze too hard. "Sorry I'm late," the man continued. "There was a bad pile-up on the freeway I had t' help take care of first. So, where's the lady that called me?" the man asked. "She said she'd be waiting here ...."

"Uh, actually, she went to the hospital," Garrett replied.

The tow-guy's eyes flew open. "She all right?"

"Nasty cut and a possible concussion," Garret explained, pointing to his own head, mirroring how Carmen had told him about it.

"Well, I hope she's okay, but man, this leaves me with a bit of a problem -- I can't tow her vehicle without her signing the 'Authority to Tow' paperwork and telling me where she wants it taken -- not to mention paying me or making arrangements to pay! I could maybe get a police officer to sign the paperwork, but I think I better call the lady first. Hey, it's kind of a walk back to the truck -- mind if I do it here?" The man was clearly cold.

Oh, no .... "Uh, sure, make yourself comfortable," Garrett told him, ignoring how his gut screamed that he was just asking for trouble. What else could he do? He motioned the man in and hoping the guy wasn't going to end up staying for dinner .... "You probably won't get cell service anyway, so use our landline," he added, pointing to a phone next to the couch.

The man thanked him and did as Garrett suggested. "Still can't get through -- they must be at the hospital," the man remarked a minute later, hanging up.

Seconds after he did, the phone rang, and Garrett picked it up.

"Hey, it's Kate," his lioness revealed. "We just got out -- should be home in a couple of hours."

"A couple of _hours?_ " The hospital wasn't _that_ far away!

"We're going to take Jenny home first," Kate explained.

"How long if you came back here instead?" he asked. "The tow guy is here, and he needs her to sign a form and pay him."

There was silence on the other end; he hoped she wasn't panicking, realising he was alone with a human.

"Can he hold out for about half an hour?" Kate asked; to a human ear, he suspected she sounded normal, but he could hear the edge in her voice, and knew she was really asking if _he_ could hold out, not the tow-truck driver.

Garrett had run out of air. He breathed in quickly through his mouth to ask the man if that was okay -- and found his thirst barely affected. Garrett relaxed. "Would you be cool with waiting around about 30 minutes? I could make you a sandwich," he offered the human.

"That'd be great, thanks -- I would have had my dinner break before I came, if that other accident hadn't taken so long to clean up, so this works out nicely!"

"We'll be fine, Katie," Garrett assured his lioness. "Promise."

"Okay -- we'll see you soon. I love you!" Now, why did Garrett have the feeling she wasn't just saying that because she did love him, but also as an assurance that no matter what might happen between now and her arrival, she _still_ would love him?

"I love you, too," he told her, letting his amusement bubble forth, hoping she would understand that she had nothing to fear -- he really did feel fine!

"Oh, you guys have that new dance game! Is it hard?" Carl asked, pointing to a case on the coffee table. "My kids want one, but I wasn't sure how well it really works ...."

"Well here, why don't you test it out while I make that sandwich?" Garrett suggested as he began setting it up.

And that was how, when Kate and the others finally arrived (late, no less), they found Garrett dancing in front of the TV (and a half-eaten sandwich) with a human.

~ * * * ~  
A human wouldn't have noticed, but Kate's knees were shaking with relief when she saw Garrett playing side-by-side with the human, laughing. She was giddy, really, and proud beyond measure of her guy. She saw him stiffen a little when he saw Jenny, but he just nodded to the woman as he took Kate's hands and began dancing with her, smiling that goofy grin Kate loved so well.

"I will always want _you_ more than anything else," he whispered, below human hearing. 

They kept dancing while the humans sorted out the tow situation, Garrett singing along to the still-running game as he spun Kate about, leading her over to it so they could play together. When the humans were done, they both thanked the vampires for their hospitality and took their leave, Carl agreeing to give Jenny a lift home. Tanya went out hunting almost immediately after the humans departed, saying she was feeling peckish (Kate would have called her puckish) and giving Kate a wink before heading out back.

They kept playing the game, though. Not that Kate wasn't enjoying it -- she always did -- but she began to worry: was Garrett feeling self-conscious again? Was the game a matter of loosening up or putting things off?

She needn't have worried.

One dance had her facing away from him for a while, but when she turned around, instead of finding him with his back to her, as the move required, she found him facing her, a split-second before he caught her lips with his. He was picking up where they'd left off in the kitchen, no chaste appetizer, jumping straight to the main course like a man starved -- which, she supposed, he was. His touch, though, was still hesitant, slowly hands feeling their way like a blind man in new territory -- which he also was. That was fine by her, so long as he didn't give up -- she'd always enjoyed sharing her expertise, playing the guide, the teacher. She thought it was sweet that, while Garrett threw himself into every other new situation with great bravado, in this one arena, he proceeded with extreme caution, out of courtesy for her. (At least, she _hoped_ it was courtesy and not because he was afraid she would hurt him. She was pretty sure he didn't see _her_ as fragile, at least ....)

Not breaking contact, she nudged him in the direction of her room. Once there, taking his hands in hers, she led them to buttons, zippers, and clasps, and he obligingly undid everything. His own clothes were thankfully easier to remove, as neither of them had much patience left by then; she just barley resisted ripping his shirt off (and only because she knew it was his favourite).

She pulled him down to her king-sized bed, which was covered in cool silk sheets, neutral suede pillows, and warm, soft-piled blankets. Though she never slept, she enjoyed relaxing against the different textures and temperatures. And now, she added the heat of his skin into the mix, reveling in the feel of it against hers, stroking his back gently with her fingertips, rubbing his legs with her own, purring under the weight of him above her. She nipped him playfully where his neck met his shoulder, then licked him there slowly, enjoying the rumble of his chuckling against her tongue. He nuzzled her, his beard rasping, tickling her, and it was her turn to laugh. He pulled back with a closed-mouth smile, the corners of his mouth near-bursting with mirth, making his eyes twinkle in reply. She traced his features fondly with a fingernail, watching his expression soften into loving fondness; for a moment, she thought her heart skipped a beat it didn't even have. She struggled with the sudden need to render his likeness, in paint or pencil or even porcelain. There would be plenty of time to do that, and something that needed tending to first, so she banked the creative fire -- not smothering it, but rather letting it smoulder pleasantly.

With her encouragement, he grew bolder with his explorations, nipping and licking all over, and blowing cool air deliciously across the wetted surfaces, blazing a trail of need further and further down her body. His fingers worked too, tracing fine-lined designs along her flesh. She took her own turns doing the same to him, careful not to let the electricity building within her free.

They got so caught up in getting to know one another better in the one way they _didn't_ yet know each other, when she did happen to catch a glimpse of the clock, she discovered that over an hour had gone by. It was time to kick things into another gear, she decided. She stroked her finger along a place that few people seemed to even realise they had, much less that it was an erogenous zone, and was rewarded with a whimper. She then introduced her intimate spot to his, and felt him stiffen -- in more ways than one. He was like someone slipping into cold water, gasping and shuddering; it bith amused her and stoked her arousal. She moved against him, using her 'secret move' again, this time eliciting a throaty moan.

"May I?" he asked huskily, eyes half-lidded. 

Part of her wanted to growl in frustration -- what did he think they'd been doing all this time that he felt he needed to ask first? It was like building a house and then asking if it was all right to install a door -- it should have been a given! But another part of her reckoned it was much better to be asked than forced, so how could she not love his insistence upon showing her that respect?

"Come in and be welcome," she teased, thinking of how humans believed that vampires had to be invited into places.

He took her up on the invitation, and not so slowly -- more like the swimmer who decides it's best to just dive in. She was amused to see that he even closed his eyes and held his breath, his shoulders tense under her hands.

After a frustrating moment of stillness, he opened one eye and asked, "Are you okay? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

She smiled, then smothered her threatening laughter with a kiss. "That answer your question?" she asked.

He grinned. "I'm not sure -- maybe you better say it again," he suggested.

She repeated herself over and over, and they began to move, a seemingly endless surge of tide meeting shore. His strokes grew more confident, more energetic, more fierce though not threatening, and she happily reciprocated, sighs of pleasure evolving into playful growls from them both. Their song of passion reached a crescendo, Kate letting out a soundless howl of ecstasy -- and losing control of her power. 

Garrett let out a cry of surprise and pain, his entire body arched, rigid as steel, then fell bonelessly over her.

" _Garrett!!_ Are you all right?" Kate asked, rolling him onto his back. "I'm so sorry!"

He still looked shocked. "That ... was ... _amazing!_ " he finally managed. He began laughing, joyously, pulling her close and kissing her.

She melted, relieved, into his embrace, and allowed herself to enjoy feeling more sated than she could remember ever feeling. It wasn't just a matter of the fact that she hadn't been with anyone since before Irina met Laurent, either. She'd had good lovers before, even great ones -- and truth be told, while Garrett actually was much better than she'd expected, overall, he wasn't _technically_ a great one. Not _yet_ \-- some clumsiness was to be expected for one's first time. But what he lacked in experience, he made up for just by being him. A considerate man, full of kindness and mirth. Her _mate_. Their mutual love was enough to make the experience better, more meaningful and sweet, than any she'd had with even the most exceptional lovers -- she'd never felt so good when climaxing that she'd lost all control and accidentally electrocuted her partner before!

"Think we have time to go again before the others get home?" he asked into her neck, snuggling.

"Oh don't mind us; we've been home half an hour already," came Eleazar's voice from the living room.

"And so have I," Tanya added.

Garrett looked horrified for a moment, then thoughtful. "Whaddya think of goin' outside?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Kate grinned. "I think you're insane, and I love you."

~FINIS~

**Author's Note:**

> I was surprised when Eleazar stepped up, much less that he said so much, but I decided it would be interesting to see Garrett start to bond with more than just Kate, becoming more of a part of the coven as a whole. I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> I *might* indulge in a wedding fic. We'll see if my writing muse decided to feast on that particular plot bunny ....
> 
> If you're wondering about the title, it's in reference to the fact that the story is about Garrett's first time, while, let's face it, Kate's been around a while, being several thousand years old (and likely from a not-sexually-repressed culture)!
> 
> If you're wondering about the Quatermain reference, Eleazar is talking about a fictional adventurer, Allan Quatermain, who was partially the inspiration for Indiana Jones.
> 
> ###########  
> If you've enjoyed my writing, I invite you to explore my original fantasy storyverse, [Gaiankind](http://gaiankind.com)! You can even find Gaiankind stories for free [here](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Gaiankind) on AO3!


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